courtroom behavior

ABA holds leadership academy and reports on female lawyers confidence

Women lawyers need to exude more confidence in the courtroom, even if they have to fake it, according to a Pennsylvania federal judge.

There are few differences between great male and female lawyers in the courtroom, three judges said at a program at the ABA's Women in Law Leadership Academy in Philadelphia on Thursday. But they identified some things women could do better, the Legal Intelligencer reports in a story reprinted by New York Lawyer (reg. req.).

Being confident in the courtroom is one way women lawyers could improve, according to U.S. District Judge Norma Shapiro of Philadelphia. "Women in general lack the confidence that men seem to have in the courtroom," she said. And if lawyers don’t have confidence, jurors and judges will also lack confidence in their arguments.